The Bernie Mac Show is an Americansitcom
featuring comic actor Bernie Mac and his wife Wanda raising his
sister's three kids: Jordan, Bryana and Vanessa. Towards the end of
the series, Bryana's long-lost father (Anthony Anderson) returns and drops by
from time to time to help Bernie and Wanda with the kids. The show
aired for five seasons (2001-2006) on Fox.

Contents

Characteristics of the
show

The show was loosely based on Mac's stand-up comedy acts. In
real life, Bernie "Mac" McCollough was married with one daughter;
Mac's character on the show (a stand-up comedian) was married with
no kids of his own. The pilot episode, aired on November 14, 2001,
set up the basic premise for the show: the character Bernie Mac
takes in his sister's children after she enters rehab (a premise
taken from one of Mac's routines in the 2000 film, The Original Kings of
Comedy).

Much of the humor in the show was derived from Mac's continual
adjustment to and his unique take on parenthood. A frequent motif
of the show was the juxtaposition of Mac's acerbic comments, such
as his threats to "bust the (children's) heads 'til the white meat
shows," and the deep parental affection he felt towards the trio,
which often brought him to the verge of tears during happy
moments.

Many of his most emotional scenes occurred in segments in which
Mac, while still in character, broke the 'fourth wall' and talked to the television
audience. As was also the case during his stand-up routine, Mac
habitually addressed the audience as "America" for humorous effect.
The lighting of the shots typically appears to be yellowish in
color.

Broadcast history by
season

The show debuted in its time slot on November 14, 2001 with
great ratings in its first season, but a weak lead-in Grounded for
Life may have hurt the show's ratings. Nonetheless, the
critically acclaimed show had a very successful rookie season and
in the process won a handful of honors including an Emmy Award for
'Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series' and the prestigious Peabody Award.
Bernie Mac also received Emmy and Golden Globe
nominations for Best Actor in a Comedy Series respectively.

In fall 2002, the show aired against the Damon Wayans comedy My Wife & Kids which may have hurt
the show's momentum in the ratings during the first half of the
show's second season run. Larry Wilmore, the show's creator and
executive producer, was fired at this time. In interviews, Wilmore
said he was fed up with the network's creative interference with
the show in addition to constantly shuffling it around the
schedule. Fox contended that it wasn't happy with the shows
direction under Wilmore in its second season claiming the show
"wasn't delivering enough laughs". With The Bernie Mac
Show 's inability to topple My Wife & Kids in the
Wednesday 8 p.m. timeslot, Fox eventually aired the show after
American
Idol, after which it received its highest ratings
ever.

The third season was scheduled to start on October 29, 2003 but
was postponed due to The
O.C. being moved. Instead the show started the season at
the late date of November 30, 2003. The ratings were mediocre
despite the large ratings of its lead-in, The Simpsons. In
March 2004, the show was moved to Monday nights in a plan to boost
ratings for the new show Cracking Up, but the ratings were low
for both shows. Cracking Up was canceled and The
Bernie Mac Show was pulled from May Sweeps with leftover
episodes that aired in June (one of which included an episode about
Thanksgiving).

The show returned to its original time slot on September 8, 2004
to start the fourth season. The production was shut down a month
later due to Bernie's sickness. The show returned on January 14,
2005 with new episodes on Friday nights. Although the ratings were
low enough that commentators questioned the show's future
(especially when it was postponed from May Sweeps again), the show
was renewed for a fifth season.

The fifth season started September 23, 2005 on Friday nights and
airings were followed by reruns of the show.

The Bernie Mac Show celebrated its 100th episode on
February 3, 2006[1] despite
the fact that the actual 100th episode was not aired until March
31.

Regular
cast

Bernie McCullough (Bernie Mac) — The show's
main protagonist who
is loosely based upon the real-life Bernie Mac. Bernie and his wife
took in the three kids when their mother (who was strung out on
drugs) was no longer able to take care of them. Bernie uses tough
love parenting tactics and he can be both strict and comical. He is
also the narrator of the series, and between scenes he talks to the
audience by addressing them as "America". Although he loves all of
the kids, his favorite is Bryana (whom he affectionately calls
"Baby Girl" because she is the youngest). He always finds himself
going head to head with his oldest niece, Vanessa who always gives
him a hard time due to her poor attitude.

Wanda "Baby"
McCullough (Kellita Smith) — Wanda is Bernie's loving
wife. She is a very intelligent woman who is VP for AT&T. She loves raising the
kids with Bernie but periodically her patience is tested.

Jordan Thomkins (Jeremy Suarez) — Bernie and Wanda's
nephew, and the middle child. Jordan is very nerdy and peculiar. He
is interested in collecting bugs and conducting odd science
experiments. He is always getting beat up by his little sister,
Bryana. Early on in the series, Jordan would always cry and urinate
on himself. As the series progressed, he began to take a interest
in magic and even began trying to date girls. Although he knows
that there is nothing wrong with Jordan, Bernie tries to his best
to make him more masculine but Jordan always does things that seems
feminine.

Bryana "Baby Girl" Thomkins (Dee Dee Davis) —
Bernie and Wanda's niece, and the youngest child. Bryana is a
friendly little girl who is very sweet, innocent and quite naive.
Bryana is Bernie's favorite (although he loves all three of the
kids). Bryana is playful and always trusts her Uncle Bernie. One of
her favorite TV characters was Drooby (a parody of Barney)
until she found out that he was only a man in a costume (David Faustino in
a guest role). Bryana is known for always attacking and
successfully beating up her older brother Jordan.

Vanessa "Nessa" Thomkins (Camille
Winbush) — Bernie and Wanda's niece, and the oldest child.
Vanessa can sometimes be considered to be the antagonist of the series. Vanessa's attitude
is very nasty and she always purposely gives Bernie a hard time.
Most of Vanessa's bad attitude comes from the pressure of being the
oldest child and having to always take care of her two siblings. As
the series progresses, she begins to get along better with Bernie
and she even matures into a beautiful young woman preparing for
college. In the final season, she spends most of her time trying to
find a perfect college but she doesn't want Bernie's help.

Bryan Brown (Anthony Anderson) — Bryana's long-lost
father who debuts in the fifth and final season of the series.
Bryan is delighted to meet his daughter and loves spending time
with her. He even moves down to California to be closer to her.
However, Bryan spoils Bryana by using his wealth to try to get her
to like him. Bernie tries to teach Bryan how to do be a real father
and raise her the right way instead of constantly buying her
material things. At first, Wanda dislikes Bryan until Bryan helps
her deal with her controlling sister. Jordan enjoys being with
Bryan instead of Bernie. Notably, Bryan does not appear in the
series finale.

Cancellation

After five seasons and 104 episodes, Fox announced the
cancellation of The Bernie Mac Show.

The series
finale titled "Bernie's Angels" focused on Bernie getting an
electrical shock and ends up traumatized. After he recovers, he
begins to teach Jordan and Bryana how to do certain things on their
own. Also, Vanessa doesn't want Bernie to be involved in her
choosing a college. Meanwhile, Jordan takes advantage of Bernie's
kindness. In the end, Vanessa and Bernie make up (mainly due to her
writing a essay about who inspires her most: which is him). In the
final scene of the series, Bernie goes back to his normal self and
takes back the iPod he bought
Jordan since he was taking advantage of him. Bernie's final line is
a farewell message to the viewers and stating that he is going to
continue to raise and teach the kids for as long as they need it
and he also wishes the viewers luck. The scene pans out with Jordan
on his knees sobbing and begging for the iPod while Bernie laughes
and teases him.

Episodes

Syndication

The show has been airing in syndication
since September 2005 and is on the FX network as of
2010.

On various television stations the show's title is shortened to
simply Bernie Mac.

Despite being in worldwide syndication, Bernie Mac's hometown Chicago exclusively airs the
show on the city's independent station The U. The show has been on that station since
2005 but after Mac's death in 2008, the show remains a part of the
channel in honor of Mac. However, at the beginning of fall 2009,
the show was moved to The U's sister station MeTV. It can still be seen on The U on
weekends.

On the day of Bernie Mac's funeral, WCIU-TV aired a
retrospective TV special called A Tribute to Bernie Mac,
which featured clips from the show and an interview with Camille
Winbush, who portrayed Vanessa.

DVD
releases

Season releases

DVD Name

Release Date

Ep #

Additional Information

Season 1

May 4, 2004

22

Bonus features include commentary on the pilot episode from
Bernie Mac and a 60 minute A & E Tvography.

The Season One DVD boxset was released on DVD May 4, 2004. There
have been no announcements regarding further seasons being released
but now that Mac has died, it is possible that the rest of the
seasons may be released.